This article just popped up on Yahoo news (http://news.yahoo.com/physician-assisted-suicide-poll-shows-divide-among-experts-211240329.html). The New England Journal of Medicine, most of whose readers are medical professionals, conducted a poll in which readers were asked to decide whether assisted suicide should be an available end of life option for the terminally ill. … [Read more...] about Most Medical Professionals Continue to Oppose Physician Assisted Suicide
Medical Opinions
Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist Asserts that Patients with Treatable Depression are Being Killed in Oregon and Will Be in Vermont
May 24, 2013 5:49 p.m. ET Paul McHugh, the author of the article below, which appeared in today’s Wall Street Journal, is the former chief psychiatrist at John’s Hopkins. The article claims that psychiatrists who have asked to examine the medical records of patients who died under the Oregon law with the aim of finding out whether they had treatable depression have been … [Read more...] about Johns Hopkins Psychiatrist Asserts that Patients with Treatable Depression are Being Killed in Oregon and Will Be in Vermont
The Testimony of Phillip Brown, Chief Medical Officer at Central VT Hospital, Methodically Destroys Claims of “Safety” in Oregon Assisted Suicides And Shows How There Has Been a Slippery Slope in Reporting Requirements
In italics below, is Dr. Brown's testimony, which carefully, methodically uses the facts to show the deficiencies in the Oregon reports proponents cite to claim that there has been no abuse in assisted suicides there. The testimony also lists two examples of the slippery slope: ways in which the reporting requirements have been lightened to further obscure what really … [Read more...] about The Testimony of Phillip Brown, Chief Medical Officer at Central VT Hospital, Methodically Destroys Claims of “Safety” in Oregon Assisted Suicides And Shows How There Has Been a Slippery Slope in Reporting Requirements
The Mere Presence of Legal Assisted Suicide Would Steer Some to Suicide and Doctors Will Be Forced Either to Prescribe or to Refer Patients to Doctors Who Will: Testimony of Oregon Doctor Kenneth Stevens before the VT House Human Services Committee
The witness of choice for the proponents of assisted suicide in Vermont seems to be George Eighmey, a lawyer, not a doctor. Below, in italics, is what Kenneth Stevens MD, who has practiced medicine in Oregon for 40 years, told the Human Services Committee about, among other things, Eighmey, his advocacy organization, Compassion and Choices, and its role in facilitating … [Read more...] about The Mere Presence of Legal Assisted Suicide Would Steer Some to Suicide and Doctors Will Be Forced Either to Prescribe or to Refer Patients to Doctors Who Will: Testimony of Oregon Doctor Kenneth Stevens before the VT House Human Services Committee
A Physician’s Letter to an Undecided Senator
Below in italics, posted with permission, is the excellent letter of a Bennington County physician, Carol Salazar, to our undecided senator, Bob Hartwell. Dear Senator Hartwell: I am sorry to hear that you are undecided about the issue of physician assisted suicide. I hope I have misunderstood this. I have been a practicing general internist for 30 plus … [Read more...] about A Physician’s Letter to an Undecided Senator